Tuesday, 30 December 2014

To make
your own backgrounds you will need a variety of things… for these ones I’ve
used paint, sprays (both mica and ink), stencils, texture paste, a ‘scraper’ (I
use an old payment card) card or paper

Start
with the Antique Linen, add paint to the card and scrape across. Add some lilac
paint using the scraping method. Then start using your paints through the
stencils (never use the whole of the stencil), lay the stencil across your card
and dab paint through in random patches. It makes a more interesting textural
piece of background. Keep adding paint until you are happy with it.

Background No3

This
one is made on a piece of old paper. Spritz first using some mica spray. I’ve
used a turquoise. Dry with a heat tool (when using
sprays you should always dry between layers as it prevents ‘muddying’). Scrape
a few lines of a copper colour around the outside. Now we can start with our
stencilling. For this background I’ve used Doodle Squares with the pitch black Adirondack
dabber and a damask stencil with some texture paste mixed with copper paint. I also used the damask stencil with a Distress Paint - Festive Berries.

Next
week I will be using the backgrounds to make a project to share with you.

I'm skipping January to March (brrr) and thinking
about Spring, using one of my all-time favourite stamp sets: Dina Wakley's
Scribbly Birds.

Firstly, I covered my tag with a gelli print
featuring Lin Brown's fern leaf stencil. The green paint I used was Eco Green's
Pistachio (which I now see is no longer stocked) but there's plenty of green
acrylic paint in the shop (Fresco Finish Guacamole perhaps?) you could use instead.

I stamped the bird straight onto the printed tag and
then coloured him in with watercolour pencils and Gelatos (Gold Champagne on
the head and wings). Then did the same with the two leaf borders.

Now return to the second panel. Tear the stamped lady into pieces. Adhere a
few over the main image (discard or save the rest for another project). Aim for a tattered appearance. Highlight areas of the lady with the white
paint pen and flat back pearls.

Embellish card with pieces of the torn lace and
handmade papers (prepared earlier) and torn pieces of Tissue Tape (a dab of Gel
Medium will help the Tissue Tape to adhere).

What I did….

1. First step was to blend some distress ink through the
stencil, I used a couple of colours applying in patches and blending until
smooth…

2. Once the colour was on I trimmed the piece of card down
leaving a good sized border. Then inked up the wording and stamped over one of
the larger blocks…

3. Then I stamped the largest
owl of the set onto some white card and cut him out. I added the tiniest amount
of colour around the edges just to ‘anchor’ him to the background and then
glued him in place.

4. To
finish I mounted onto some black card and then onto a white card blank.

Hope you have a lovely
weekend……and……a great Christmas!! See you in a couple of weeks.

Friday, 19 December 2014

Hello
there, I have a mixed media wall hanging to share this week. My title was
inspired by the colours used to make my creation, as pink and green is one of
my favourite combinations. I hope this will bring a breath of Spring to the
current rather chilly weather. As you’ll see, the layered butterfly has come
out to play again too!

Recipe:

·Cut
a 21cm square of watercolour paper (the Ranger one is very strong which is
essential for this due to layers of paint etc.) and a piece of chipboard for
backing the same size.

·Using
sponges, apply the light pink paint all over the watercolour paper, and then
add the medium pink around the edges, working in towards the middle in places.
Add patches of the Guacamole paint over the top. Leave to dry.

·Tear
a strip of Bondaweb and paint on the side that doesn’t have the glue with the
gold paint. It’s best to do this on a craft sheet as the paint with seep
through the holes and you can scoop up the excess and keep on applying until
the surface is covered. Allow this to dry and then tear into pieces.

·Using
a dry iron, iron patches of the painted Bondaweb to the painted paper, making
sure you put the backing paper over the top or you’ll end up with a very sticky
iron!Carry on until you’re happy with
the effect.

·Sprinkle
the ribbon snippets on the Bondaweb patches and repeat the ironing after
carefully placing the backing paper on top. You’ll see that the snippets stick
to the shimmery patches. Cut a piece of leaf trim and iron this on too on the
right side to resemble a vine.

·Stamp
the Botanical image on with the Fern Green ink. I added this 4 times. Then
repeatedly stamp the script design in the remaining spaces with the same ink.

·Colour
a couple of scraps of paper with the deep pink and green paints, then stamp on
butterflies with the fern ink. Cut these out.

·Die
cut a butterfly from watercolour paper and emboss with the texture fades folder.
Paint the top half with the Candy Floss paint and the lower half with the
Limelight. Paint the body with the gold Shimmer paint. When dry, apply fern
green to the raised areas.

·Cut
a piece of doily and glue to the left hand edge. Using the Tacky Glue, glue the
paper to the chipboard, sandwiching a piece of ribbon in between to make the
hanger.